B01

Orzhov Cleric Tribal in March of the Machine

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

A new Magic TCG set is always an opportunity to see what opportunities there are to improve my Orzhov Cleric Tribal for Arena B01 Standard. I’m later posting this than I would have liked but once you see how March of the Machine influences the deck, I expect that you’ll understand.

If you’ll recall, Phyrexia: All Will Be One introduced 10 new cleric cards, with seven of them possibilities for an Orzhov deck. March of the Machine only brings five new Clerics, of which four are possible candidates for my purposes. It did not bode well if only based on the quantity of cards.

Let’s have a closer look at those five cards:

Alabaster Host Sanctifier: A 2/2 with Lifelink and no other upside does not offer enough to warrant putting it in the deck at the expense of one of the cards currently in the deck.

Progenitor Cat Cleric: I like Incubate as a mechanic. You can go with a simple artifacts matter strategy or convert them to artifact creatures for a more aggressive strategy). The choice is yours. Unfortunately, it is not cheap, especially if you want to go with the latter. At its cheapest, you get a 1/2 for 1 with no upside (unless you have other Incubate cards). Each Incubate token costs an additional 2 when casting and an additional 2 later to turn each into a creature. Frankly, my deck is slow enough as it is.

Sun-Blessed Guardian is an interesting card. A 2/2 that can transform into a 3/3 and generate an attacking token is certainly worthy of consideration. Except for that cost. 5 mana and two life (given the lack of red mana) is not cheap. And it remains prone to removal. Too expensive for too little.

Quintorius, Loremaster is out simply due to it being Boros rather than Orzhov.

Seedpod Caretaker comes with two ETB options to chose from. The first certainly could work but the second requires at least one source of Incubator tokens. As you saw above, from a Cleric standpoint, pickings are pretty slim.

If I was to consider some substitutions, I think I would need to pull into the deck Progenitor Cat Cleric, Sun Blessed Guardian and Seedpod Caretaker to leverage the synergy between them. But then, what do I pull? I may try it but I have a feeling that it will not work. I’m better off to try to build an Incubate deck instead.

For now, let’s leave the deck as is:

  • 3 Infernal Grasp (MID) 107
  • 2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
  • 2 Valorous Stance (VOW) 42
  • 3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
  • 9 Plains (THB) 250
  • 7 Swamp (THB) 252
  • 3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
  • 2 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 3 Shattered Sanctum (VOW) 264
  • 4 Lunarch Veteran (MID) 27
  • 2 Scoured Barrens (NEO) 274
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
  • 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 2 Loran’s Escape (BRO) 14
  • 4 Markov Purifier (VOW) 241
  • 2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
  • 2 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
  • 2 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97
  • 3 Yotian Medic (BRO) 33
  • 2 Annex Sentry (ONE) 2

Sideboard:

  • 2 Farewell (NEO) 13
  • 1 Cut Down (DMU) 89
  • 2 Chaplain of Alms (MID) 13
  • 1 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 1 Intercessor’s Arrest (NEO) 20

As always, feel free to drop in a comment with your thoughts and suggestions for this deck.

Arena B01 Standard Boros Burn

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

After a less than stellar start to the new Arena season with my WB Clerics deck, I switched my Boros Angels deck. That just led another painful loss run (0-6) and never seemed to have answers to the decks I faced. It was time for something different. I switched to the Boros Burn deck that had just emerged as new top contender after watching CovertGoBlue play with it.

Here is the deck that I have been playing with since:

  • 6 Plains (SNC) 263
  • 6 Mountain (SNC) 269
  • 4 Luminarch Aspirant (ZNR) 24
  • 4 Roil Eruption (ZNR) 155
  • 4 Needleverge Pathway (ZNR) 263
  • 2 Den of the Bugbear (AFR) 254
  • 4 Brutal Cathar (MID) 7
  • 3 Bloodthirsty Adversary (MID) 129
  • 4 Play with Fire (MID) 154
  • 2 Angelfire Ignition (MID) 209
  • 4 Sunrise Cavalier (MID) 244
  • 4 Hopeful Initiate (VOW) 20
  • 3 Sundown Pass (VOW) 266
  • 4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan (NEO) 152
  • 4 Thundering Raiju (NEO) 166
  • 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance (NEO) 276

It has proven to be quite potent. The mana curve works very well and I often find myself with either a Hopeful Initiate or Kumano Faces Kakkazan to lead off. And if I don’t have those, a Play with Fire often shows up instead allowing me to immediately inflict some damage and not lose momentum.

And who would have predicted that Sunrise Cavalier would be such an awesome card in the deck? Certainly not I. The four-mana Thundering Raiju brings a lot versatility a bit later on, inflicting damage to the face and pumping other creatures up at the same time.

As of now, the deck is at 25-11, moving me through Gold quite quickly after the painful start experienced with the other decks. We’ll see how it fares in Platinum but early signs are promising. At this point, I’m not really thinking of any tweaks but we’ll see how things evolve in the coming days.

Arena BO1 WG Reconfigured Enchantments aka Selesnya Enchantments

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

After a couple of weeks of Arena BO1, my Orzhov Cleric deck has done relatively well and helped me climb to the Platinum tier. With a 59% win ratio, it has performed better than I expected in the new Standard but that could change as I push upwards on the ladder. I will say that Blade of the Oni has proven to be quite the card in the deck. Attached to a Voice of the Blessed or anything with a few counters on it, it becomes quite the threat.

I haven’t played as much with my Giants deck but the Lizard Blades that replaced Giant’s Grasp have also proven to be as nice an addition to the deck as I had hoped. In BO3, I may still use Giant’s Grasp first and then switch out to the Lizard Blades for the following match-ups where it makes sense to speed up the deck.

Much as I expected, I have begun to explore some other deck options. Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is proving to be a fun block. I’m enjoying the Reconfigure mechanic and the sagas are proving to be quite fun as well.

First up is the first version of the deck which I called Reconfigured Enchantments. As I look at the deck list now, I will admit I’m not sure how I thought this was a Reconfigure deck. Counters, perhaps, but definitely not Reconfigure.

  • 3 Blossoming Sands (NEO) 265
  • 4 Jukai Naturalist (NEO) 225
  • 5 Plains (NEO) 284
  • 6 Forest (NEO) 292
  • 3 Jukai Preserver (NEO) 195
  • 2 Tales of Master Seshiro (NEO) 210
  • 2 Jugan Defends the Temple (NEO) 194
  • 2 Light the Way (NEO) 24
  • 4 Spirited Companion (NEO) 38
  • 2 Weaver of Harmony (NEO) 213
  • 2 Boseiju, Who Endures (NEO) 266
  • 2 Vastwood Fortification (ZNR) 216
  • 4 Branchloft Pathway (ZNR) 258
  • 2 Overgrown Farmland (MID) 265
  • 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 2 Rabid Bite (ZNR) 199
  • 2 Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider (KHM) 199
  • 2 Homestead Courage (MID) 24
  • 1 The Wandering Emperor (NEO) 42
  • 3 Generous Visitor (NEO) 185
  • 2 Touch the Spirit Realm (NEO) 40
  • 3 Borrowed Time (MID) 6

The deck did not perform well but Jukai Naturalist and The Wandering Emperor certainly proved to be strong cards worth building around. In the meantime and as I suspect many have also discovered, Selesnya Enchantments has quickly become a thing on Arena. This deck quickly evolved in this direction while retaining more sagas than most other decks of this type.

Here is the deck as it stands tonight with two Wedding Announcements replacing Tales of Master Seshiro, a saga I liked but proved too slow for this deck.

  • 4 Jukai Naturalist (NEO) 225
  • 2 Jukai Preserver (NEO) 195
  • 2 Wedding Announcement (VOW) 45
  • 3 Jugan Defends the Temple (NEO) 194
  • 4 Spirited Companion (NEO) 38
  • 2 Weaver of Harmony (NEO) 213
  • 3 Michiko’s Reign of Truth (NEO) 29
  • 3 Kami of Transience (NEO) 197
  • 1 The Wandering Emperor (NEO) 42
  • 4 Generous Visitor (NEO) 185
  • 2 Touch the Spirit Realm (NEO) 40
  • 3 Borrowed Time (MID) 6
  • 2 Ranger Class (AFR) 202
  • 2 Rune of Might (KHM) 191
  • 3 Blossoming Sands (NEO) 265
  • 2 Boseiju, Who Endures (NEO) 266
  • 4 Branchloft Pathway (ZNR) 258
  • 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 2 Overgrown Farmland (MID) 265
  • 4 Plains (NEO) 284
  • 6 Forest (NEO) 292

With 17 games in the books, the deck has a less than stellar 9-12 record. Many losses were racked up with the earlier versions and recent adjustments have begun to improve that ratio.